We've been up and down Fakarava a couple of times since our last blog post. Firstly we went up to Pakokota Yacht Services and had a great meal with Nautilus, Jadean and Nahoa who we haven't seen since they were tied to us for our Panama Canal transit. We also went up to Rotoava, the village on Fakarva to provision and collect Alistair - then it was a blast south to be at the pass for the fabled grouper spawning. It's an event that happens on the full moon in either June or July. No-one really

After a wonderful week in Tahanea, we decided to move on. A little earlier than we had planned, but it worked for various reasons. Firstly, we could see some weather coming which would have trapped us in Tahanea for a while, and we could have done with a few supplies (of which there are none in Tahanea). Also our friends on Nautilus and their little flotilla were also headed to Fakarava and it would be easier to dive with them in a larger group. We really enjoyed Tahanea and I wanted to stay lo

Here in the atolls, we are always aware of the sun's position in the sky. This is because it makes a huge difference to our ability to spot coral "bommies" which can come up from depths very suddenly. Hitting one would spoil your trip let alone your day! Another essential is polarising lenses. These allow you to see through the reflected sunlight and into the water. When combined with having the sun behind you and high in the sky, it makes for very good visibility. For instance, without polar

Not done one of these for a while. Looking astern from Duplicat as the sun sets over Tahanea atoll...

We were recently given a copy of Wikipedia for use offline and its stunningly useful! I never knew it existed as a “product" (though I was aware that mirroring it using the standard tools was incredibly unfriendly and they do ask you not to do it). Its actually produced officially using a format for the Kiwix offline browser. Thats not so interesting for us as we like to serve all of our media from an onboard machine so everyone can see our planning documents for the Pacific crossing, all th

We had to slow down quite a bit overnight and by high tide, we were off the middle of Tahanea's 3 passes. We didn't have quite enough light to come straight in, so we waited a short while and by 5:45 we had enough light from the rising sun to take the approach. The tide was against us and already running at 3 knots just half an hour after high water. However it's quite wide, so the standing waves weren't at all bad. Since we've arrived 3 of the 8 boats that were here have left with the outgoin

We are making good speed towards Tahanea. So much so that with 65 miles to go we have begun to manage our speed. Being only 220 miles for the trip, we knew that it would be 2 nights as trying to arrive at dusk is difficult. Far easier to aim for dawn on a 3rd day and slow down than aiming for the next afternoon and find yourself with an additional 12 hours of darkness to wait. It's particularly hard to loiter outside Tahanea because the pass is on the eastern side, which make it a lee shore, unl

After 8 days, we are leaving Hao. The last few days have been quite busy organising supplies and I even managed to get a dive in at the pass. The locals have all been incredibly helpful, including Madame Bubu who got up at 7am to run me out to the petrol fill place, and also hauled my gas cylinder and beer crate so we could replace those. Having dived the pass yesterday we had a fair idea of tides today so when we left the dock and raised sail, we managed to sail straight to the entrance, out

We'd like to get some diesel. If we have an empty barrel, we can wait for a supply ship and get it filled or possibly even go alongside. I have an offer of a barrel I can borrow, but no-one really knows when the next ship is due, perhaps next week? However, there is a Mobil agent in the village with a truck for fuel delivery, that can come to the quay to which we are moored. Awesome! I cycle over, and ask if I can buy some diesel. "You need to phone Tahiti and place your order". I try that, but

We'd like to get some diesel. If we have an empty barrel, we can wait for a supply ship and get it filled or possibly even go alongside. I have an offer of a barrel I can borrow, but no-one really knows when the next ship is due, perhaps next week? However, there is a Mobil agent in the village with a truck for fuel delivery, that can come to the quay to which we are moored. Awesome! I cycle over, and ask if I can buy some diesel. "You need to phone Tahiti and place your order". I try that, but

Hao is quite a large atoll but most boats never venture very far into it - mostly staying at anchor off the village of Otepa. It's seen as a "provision and go" atoll with little of interest. However we're finding it very pleasant indeed. Yesterday we sailed down the atoll about 8 miles to an old pearl farm. Friends who own it explained that the pearl industry collapsed when certain boats stopped calling, and it was impossible as well as uneconomic to move oysters by plane. So now they have a ver

Its a total disaster - you cannot buy beer on an election day in France and today is such a day! I guess we’re going down the atoll to explore tomorrow without a replenished stock of beer onboard. That aside, its quite pleasant in Hao on the wharf. We’ve met a few locals and fortuitously the guy on a scooter who gave us directions to the Gendarmerie turns out to be the Mobil fuel delivery guy. We have done a small (if somewhat expensive) provision run here and we will go for an explore furt

We had a fantastic meal ashore with Moana and his wife, as well as Madame Jenny, Benjamin, the mayor Francois and his wife. Freshly caught and BBQed Unicorn fish were delicious as was yet another variation on poisson cru. Helge and Camilla were also there as they had moved ashore from Stellar Polaris as they prepared to return to Norway and the world of work. We were gifted marvellous necklaces as part of an Amanu tradition. Here I am with Camilla and Benjamin. We left back to the boat feeling

It's probably our last night in Amanu (though you never can tell with the weather around here). It's tinged with sadness as we have made some good friends here. The weather has been windy so rather than dinghy around from the remote anchorage in marginal conditions in the dark, we have snuck into then inner harbour. The entrance is tight - less than 1m wider than we are and with 20knots of wind on the beam, that counts as "exciting" in my book. Sea state in the photo looks less exciting than it

We are slowly becoming coconut connoisseurs. The brown ones yield the nut that we are familiar with in the UK. We open these by splitting them in two to get to the meat as they do for copra farming here in the Tuamotus and also in the San Blas. The traditional method is to "husk" them to extract the hard nut but that is quite difficult without a very strong fixed spike. The younger green ones give us about half a litre of water which is deliciously tasty. We put diagonal cuts into the pointed

After our day at the "navel" we moved up to the small pass at the very north of the island. Our friends on Stellar Polaris had a local with them who knew the area and was sure we could anchor. So off we went. It's another gorgeous spot, a bit more exposed to the weather as we are on the western side of the atoll, but from anything other than a southerly, the fetch is pretty small. It was very comfortable and the anchor is well dug in with our stern back to the motu. After a wonderful BBQ of g

Etoille reef, locally known as "the navel" is a small reef in the middle of the atoll with some sand just behind it. It makes a great day anchorage but probably not for an overnight stop. Here, as elsewhere, we buoy our chain to keep it from tangling around the coral. It's not a perfect solution but it definitely helps. This is what ours looks like, complete with the shark that came to check me out... (Oops, should probably fix the camera's time stamp!)

Charts around this part of the world are not the most accurate. In many cases because they were made well before the advent of GPS and in some cases not helped by the limitations of electronic chart format. However, a new and surprising source of information is becoming widely used by cruisers who swap files and techniques like the secrets of a cult. Here is what my chart electronic chart of this part of the Amanu atoll looks like Not particularly helpful! We eyeball navigate everywhere we go

The end of the pass, where there is a dogleg to the south. See how clear the water is! The Marie building with a few solar panels!

There is some debate about the weather for the next few days. Some think we will see another Maramu-type event, with strong winds and rain. Others suggest just a F5 or so. The anchorage and village on Amanu are on the western side of the atoll which isn't great for strong easterly winds - you are anchored with the reef right behind you. We have opted to come over to the other side of the atoll. We found a spot on Google Earth that looked like it had some nice sand and shallower water. It is a